Fox club

[WelshMike]

17 hours ago, Hammo said:

Hi All,

Not posted here for what seems ages; work-weather and three weeks of Jury Service have have made an incredibly busy few weeks for me.I have been out, as Lambing and turning out the Lambs to pasture has, of course, been in full swing. Five more on my tally since last post near end of Feb.

Had a call middle of last week, from a great chap who has passed my number on and created a few new perms for me. He had seen a fox in his paddocks three nights running about 11pm. Unfortunately he had lit him up with the lamp a couple of times, resulting in one very jittery fox! he kindly left out a bantam carcass far end of the paddock; but I drew blank on the first visit. Anyway, worked a bit of overtime last night 6pm to midnight; then kitted up and out on the prowl.

 

As soon as I pulled up in the lay-by, a quick scan with the Helion showed an unmistakeable luminous white shape hunkered down tight to the far hedge  

I get the Rifle and Sticks out the back of my motor, and creep through the hedge - thankfully not creating a disturbance.. the fox is pre occupied with something under the hedge, and I am able to creep round for my favourite side on chest shot with the trusty .17 Hornet. On closer inspection I have dropped a very silvery looking dry vixen. She was eating her way through a Cock Pheasant, and not far from the pile of feathers from the Bantam left out a couple of nights previous. Perm owner will be pleased, and as always I am glad to have produced the goods on a callout job.

Back across the lane to a neighbouring perm, and a field full of sheep ends up giving me a headache! every now and again a Lamb will break into a sprint and catch my eye through the thermal, but no reynard to be seen. I fall into the 'just five more minutes/one more scan' trap that we all know!! almost an hour passes. Suddenly off to my right a fox pops out unexpectedly from the heavy cover, and zigzags nose to the ground towards me 30 metres and closing - I am out of the shadows and feel exposed despite the nice cloudy night. As I get the Rifle round and onto the sticks, he sees/scents me and bolts off with no chance of a shot. 'Oh what a nuisance!' I mutter - or more earthy language to that effect           I linger around for at least half an hour, and my luck is in! he re-appears at the bottom of the long sloping Sheep field, right amongst a gaggle of Lambs and their Mums. A careful shot off the sticks is rewarded with a solid thump, and he bowls over headfirst. I shoulder the Rifle, but through the Thermal just can't see the dead Fox. Spent the next twenty minutes searching to no avail, he was very close to the dense cover beyond the sheep fence, but I am always really annoyed to not confirm the kill and get a photo for the collection. Popping out shortly for a daylight search, but I fear he may be too deep in cover to discover.

Hammo

Well done on the first one mate and hopefully you found the second one. I do wish that sheep had some appreciation for what you were doing and kept quiet and still  the amount of times I am stalking carefully through the field and then all hell breaks loose with a sheep stampede....no comments about my intentions please gents 

[bumpy22]

57 minutes ago, WelshMike said:

Well done on the first one mate and hopefully you found the second one. I do wish that sheep had some appreciation for what you were doing and kept quiet and still  the amount of times I am stalking carefully through the field and then all hell breaks loose with a sheep stampede....no comments about my intentions please gents 

I would run if you were chasing me with rifle and your trousers round your ankles

[Hammo]

Don’t worry, he won’t catch you - he is bound to be wearing oversize wellies! ???

[WelshMike]

2 hours ago, bumpy22 said:

I would run if you were chasing me with rifle and your trousers round your ankles

 Trousers stay up until back legs are firmly strapped to the wellies 

 

30 minutes ago, Hammo said:

Don’t worry, he won’t catch you - he is bound to be wearing oversize wellies! ???

Catch them then velcro wraps for leg restraint. This allows normal sized wellies so no loss in speed 

[Hammo]

Haha! Love it, a real pro at Work ?

On another note, my reloading assistant asleep on the job here ???

[WelshMike]

1 minute ago, Hammo said:

Haha! Love it, a real pro at Work ?

..I didnt mention the velcro suit or tick blanket...

[belly47]

I've not been seeing much about lately, but managed to call this rather manky dog dog fox this evening.

Was using the rabbit distress call on the gc500 and saw him trotting purposely along the hedge line, was surprised to see him continue past the caller but then I noticed a rabbit dash into the hedge, had to shout out to get him to stop and give me a shot.

95 yards,  .222 50gr v max

 

[Gerry78]

Nice shooting belly47 lol waiting on my 222 coming through on ticket good to see someone still using 222 gives me confidence buying one Pity bout your badge Super Tottenham fan here in N Ireland ? lol take care mate keep posting 

[WelshMike]

10 hours ago, belly47 said:

I've not been seeing much about lately, but managed to call this rather manky dog dog fox this evening.

Was using the rabbit distress call on the gc500 and saw him trotting purposely along the hedge line, was surprised to see him continue past the caller but then I noticed a rabbit dash into the hedge, had to shout out to get him to stop and give me a shot.

95 yards,  .222 50gr v max

 

Nicely done mate, manky old fox. 

[bumpy22]

Had one last night of a new permission on a pheasant shoot near to me. Took the guy who looks after the pheasants and he had a drone on a 204. I called the fox out of the wood which was spotted earlier with thermal. Guy with rifle could not find it through the drone so I took rifle. To say I was impressed was understatement the picture is phenomenal. Me and Grant may need to take a rethink on nv when he gets back after looking through the drone. I thought are wards were good after looking through pulsar and photon carp etc. but to be fair the drone is something else. Stu did tell me

[WelshMike]

3 hours ago, bumpy22 said:

Had one last night of a new permission on a pheasant shoot near to me. Took the guy who looks after the pheasants and he had a drone on a 204. I called the fox out of the wood which was spotted earlier with thermal. Guy with rifle could not find it through the drone so I took rifle. To say I was impressed was understatement the picture is phenomenal. Me and Grant may need to take a rethink on nv when he gets back after looking through the drone. I thought are wards were good after looking through pulsar and photon carp etc. but to be fair the drone is something else. Stu did tell me

God help your wallet mate. I am steering well clear of looking through the drone pro myself as I will want one. My N750A is being fixed at the mo so hopefully that will be back soon. Using the photon on the .243 is a bit of a pain due to field of view and effective range so will be glad when its back on the rimfire. 

[bumpy22]

56 minutes ago, WelshMike said:

God help your wallet mate. I am steering well clear of looking through the drone pro myself as I will want one. My N750A is being fixed at the mo so hopefully that will be back soon. Using the photon on the .243 is a bit of a pain due to field of view and effective range so will be glad when its back on the rimfire. 

To be fair you are paying for a country estate to be redone

[WelshMike]

11 minutes ago, bumpy22 said:

To be fair you are paying for a country estate to be redone

 Managed to get the 11.5 tonnes of concrete poured on saturday (with a couple of hours of frantic wheelbarrow activity). Lorry load of sand, cement and blocks tomorrow for starting the building work. Think it will be an outside weekend as we are getting pigs on Monday and have 12 hives of bees to go through along with a few other bits and bobs. 

[racing snake]

11 hours ago, bumpy22 said:

Had one last night of a new permission on a pheasant shoot near to me. Took the guy who looks after the pheasants and he had a drone on a 204. I called the fox out of the wood which was spotted earlier with thermal. Guy with rifle could not find it through the drone so I took rifle. To say I was impressed was understatement the picture is phenomenal. Me and Grant may need to take a rethink on nv when he gets back after looking through the drone. I thought are wards were good after looking through pulsar and photon carp etc. but to be fair the drone is something else. Stu did tell me

No turning back now Ed, you'll have to get one.

Thought after getting the stock on the gun, getting it zeroed etc would probably see me giving it very little use until August. Alas that's not to be. Had some real problems with the new stock, to the degree that it's had to come off and the Tikka one put back on. Call today, 3 lambs gone from the quarry last night. Ah well, back out tonight.

Edited May 3, 2018 by racing snake

[bumpy22]

49 minutes ago, racing snake said:

No turning back now Ed, you'll have to get one.

Thought after getting the stock on the gun, getting it zeroed etc would probably see me giving it very little use until August. Alas that's not to be. Had some real problems with the new stock, to the degree that it's had to come off and the Tikka one put back on. Call today, 3 lambs gone from the quarry last night. Ah well, back out tonight.

just bought xq38 spotter so drone will have to waitbought a new t3 last month as well so better not let the  wife know i tested the drone 

new t3 is silly accurate developed a great load for it

[racing snake]

Given the choice between the two I'd get the thermal before the Drone too Ed. Drone's got a great image but providing you've got some form of NV scope it doesn't change the game like thermal over lamp.

Glad you're liking the new T3.

Edited May 3, 2018 by racing snake

[bumpy22]

13 hours ago, racing snake said:

Given the choice between the two I'd get the thermal before the Drone too Ed. Drone's got a great image but providing you've got some form of NV scope it doesn't change the game like thermal over lamp.

Glad you're liking the new T3.

Definitely stu

[racing snake]

Popped out last night to see if I could find the fox that had started taking lambs. Only an hour's wait before Charlie comes over the brow and takes a seat about 150 yards in front of me. Of the bipod, goodnight. Hopefully that's it until August!

[bumpy22]

8 hours ago, racing snake said:

Popped out last night to see if I could find the fox that had started taking lambs. Only an hour's wait before Charlie comes over the brow and takes a seat about 150 yards in front of me. Of the bipod, goodnight. Hopefully that's it until August!

good job

[Pigeon Shredder.]

Today was one of those mixed days of where and what shall we do/shoot.

Started off with a visit to a good friend who loans me his springer, she is young responds well but needs more time spent on/with her, so had an hour or so on retrieve and command which went really well, my friend who's had springers all his life was impressed how she worked with me, all good and time to go shooting, not with the springer this time, shame.

Went to see the farmer at one of my permissions and after his wife had fed me tea, cake and the local gossip, they then showed me their new hen run and by now it was 3 o/clock, l set off through the farmyard to set up, l had both shotgun and HMR in the car and as l drove down the yard who should scamper out of a barn but our friend mister or missus fox.

l parked up and wondered where it had gone, only for it to show up a hundred yards in front of me sitting in the sun with it's head up looking into the sun and directly at me or just into the sun and warming itself.

Trying as hard as l could not to disturb it l reached into the back of the car for the HMR and then into the kit bag for the bolt and ammunition, all done slowly so as not to disturb the sunbather, with the gun readied l slowly opened the car door, rested the gun between the opening and the pillar dialled in the distance and dispatched a 20gr in the direction of it's engine room, didn't even see it fall, but it had, l walked over to check it out and it was a young dog of a year plus l would guess.

Walked back to the farmhouse and asked the farmer what he wanted done with it, never seen him so happy, we went back with a wheelbarrow loaded mister fox in and off he went to the incinerator.

l returned to the car got the decoying kit out set up and had half a dozen pigeons with the SX3 before having to leave.

Went and said my good byes to the farmer and got half a dozen tomatoe plants handed to me for my efforts.

In all a good day, then l had to go home, ahh well you can't win em all !!

[racing snake]

Sounds like a top day Pigeon Shredder. Bonus Charlie

[WelshMike]

On 5/4/2018 at 15:00, racing snake said:

Popped out last night to see if I could find the fox that had started taking lambs. Only an hour's wait before Charlie comes over the brow and takes a seat about 150 yards in front of me. Of the bipod, goodnight. Hopefully that's it until August!

Nice one Stu. Chicken farm for me tonight as 55,000 chickens have just become free range and every fox for miles will now cause me loss of sleep for the next 12 months 

On 5/5/2018 at 20:13, Pigeon Shredder. said:

Today was one of those mixed days of where and what shall we do/shoot.

Started off with a visit to a good friend who loans me his springer, she is young responds well but needs more time spent on/with her, so had an hour or so on retrieve and command which went really well, my friend who's had springers all his life was impressed how she worked with me, all good and time to go shooting, not with the springer this time, shame.

Went to see the farmer at one of my permissions and after his wife had fed me tea, cake and the local gossip, they then showed me their new hen run and by now it was 3 o/clock, l set off through the farmyard to set up, l had both shotgun and HMR in the car and as l drove down the yard who should scamper out of a barn but our friend mister or missus fox.

l parked up and wondered where it had gone, only for it to show up a hundred yards in front of me sitting in the sun with it's head up looking into the sun and directly at me or just into the sun and warming itself.

Trying as hard as l could not to disturb it l reached into the back of the car for the HMR and then into the kit bag for the bolt and ammunition, all done slowly so as not to disturb the sunbather, with the gun readied l slowly opened the car door, rested the gun between the opening and the pillar dialled in the distance and dispatched a 20gr in the direction of it's engine room, didn't even see it fall, but it had, l walked over to check it out and it was a young dog of a year plus l would guess.

Walked back to the farmhouse and asked the farmer what he wanted done with it, never seen him so happy, we went back with a wheelbarrow loaded mister fox in and off he went to the incinerator.

l returned to the car got the decoying kit out set up and had half a dozen pigeons with the SX3 before having to leave.

Went and said my good byes to the farmer and got half a dozen tomatoe plants handed to me for my efforts.

In all a good day, then l had to go home, ahh well you can't win em all !!

Good result all round mate, nicely done. 

[ShootingEgg]

Have been camping out in the high seats recently, and failing to see anything, went out Saturday evening called a fox in but as soon as the lamp went on it, it did a 180 and bolted. Got out again this evening, saw nothing until 10 and using the nv spotter I picked up movement at around 200yds, started calling and it showed a little interest and trotted across the field. Checking my direction every so often. Each time I called it would quarter across the fieldthen stop and look right at us. 

It got to a pond that I knew was 100yds off, put the spotter down, passed my mate the lamp and asked him to slowly light it up. Had the M12 in roughly the right place, eye shine and bang. My mod isnt really up to much so didn't hear the plop. But was confident it hit my mark. 

One nice little vixen awaited me when i got to the ponds edge. 

[WelshMike]

13 hours ago, ShootingEgg said:

Have been camping out in the high seats recently, and failing to see anything, went out Saturday evening called a fox in but as soon as the lamp went on it, it did a 180 and bolted. Got out again this evening, saw nothing until 10 and using the nv spotter I picked up movement at around 200yds, started calling and it showed a little interest and trotted across the field. Checking my direction every so often. Each time I called it would quarter across the fieldthen stop and look right at us. 

It got to a pond that I knew was 100yds off, put the spotter down, passed my mate the lamp and asked him to slowly light it up. Had the M12 in roughly the right place, eye shine and bang. My mod isnt really up to much so didn't hear the plop. But was confident it hit my mark. 

One nice little vixen awaited me when i got to the ponds edge. 

Nicely done mate. 

My N750A is off for repair so I have the Photon on the .243 at the moment....Not a patch on the N750A and should stay on the rimfiire but needs must. Saw 3 last night but couldnt get a clear enough picture to take the shots and couldnt close the gap enough to give me a good enough image...so headed off home somewhat aggravated  

[bumpy22]

3 minutes ago, WelshMike said:

Nicely done mate. 

My N750A is off for repair so I have the Photon on the .243 at the moment....Not a patch on the N750A and should stay on the rimfiire but needs must. Saw 3 last night but couldnt get a clear enough picture to take the shots and couldnt close the gap enough to give me a good enough image...so headed off home somewhat aggravated  

There is one good place for those photons and that is back to the manufacturer. Carp I suppose you get what you pay for. 

A man that owns a country estate should not have budget gear? where is my brass???